1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile communications technology, and more specifically, to mechanisms for authenticating that a telephone number belongs to a wireless device that requests service.
2. Background and Related Art
Computing technology has revolutionized the way people work and play and has contributed enormously to the advancement of humankind. Computers now aid in enumerable applications such as word processing, computer simulations, advanced gaming, voice recognition, among many more. Computing systems now come in a wide-variety of forms including, for example, desktop computers, laptop computers, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and even mobile telephones and devices.
Some mobile wireless devices such as Personal Digital Assistants and wireless telephones have sophisticated memory and general processing capability that allow the mobile device to perform many tasks previously only performed by larger desktop computers. These tasks may even include tasks (e.g., communicating e-mail, accessing the Web, and participating in instant messaging) that require communication over data networks.
One of the purposes of wireless devices is to allow their associated users to have access to remotely stored information and remotely managed services even while the user is mobile. In order to accomplish this purpose, wireless devices often submit requests for service over a cellular carrier network to a server computing system. The wireless device typically identifies itself using the telephone number. The server then typically responds by returning the requested information over the cellular network. If the wireless device misrepresented its telephone number, absent proper authentication, the wireless device may inappropriately misrepresent itself and may potentially be granted access to unauthorized information and services.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have mechanisms in which the authenticity of a telephone number reported in a request from a wireless device may be properly verified as belonging to that wireless device.